Aston Villa's approach to bouncing back at the first time ended in disappointment when they finished 13th in the Championship - way outside the automatic promotion and play-off packs.

Newcastle United made a much better fist of it, not only going up automatically, but winning the title (thanks to Jack Grealish!), while Norwich City finished eighth in the table.

The Villa Park will know only too well how the Lions approached their first season back in the second tier, but what about the Magpies and the Canaries?

We spoke to Newcastle and Norwich experts for the lowdown on how Villa's fellow relegation strugglers from 2015-16 chose to tackle the Championship.

Newcastle United

They were odds on favourites to top the pile and ended up doing exactly that - with a helping final day hand from Villa, who frustrated title challengers Brighton and Hove Albion with a 1-1 draw.

So was it routine? Was it just that the squad had too much? Was Rafa the difference?

Mark Douglas, of the Newcastle Chronicle

How crucial was Rafa Benitez?

"Keeping Rafa Benitez was the most important thing that Newcastle United did last summer. Everything else flowed from that: from signings to the feel-good factor and the way the entire club operated during a summer that felt nothing short of transformative.

"I saw a fan of one of United's rivals quip during the summer that Newcastle were the first team ever to be promoted from the Premier League to the Championship and while it was said in a derogatory manner it was actually spot on.

Relegation had felt like an extinction level event in 2009 because the club had no direction - this time, keeping Benitez meant that fans were a lot less bothered about the opponents for the new season because they trusted his leadership and wanted to see the team that he put together play.

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"Benitez is a bit of a special case, of course. Had it been a Garry Monk or a Brendan Rodgers - both decent managers - it would not have been quite the same. It was because it was Benitez.

"The days of appointing a manager of Benitez's cache and CV were thought to be behind Newcastle - getting him and keeping him sent a the clearest message that the club were going in a different direction. It was huge."

How did they approach the transfer window?

"Benitez had a good budget but he decided fairly early on that he wanted players who had a good knowledge of the Championship. There were some - like Matt Ritchie and Dwight Gayle - who he feels can play in the top flight but this was a team and squad built for the second tier.

Every single one of them had experience of the division.

"One of the most interesting aspects of Benitez's work was how he expanded Newcastle's squad. Some of the signings - like Daryl Murphy - were done with an eye on having strength-in-depth to cope with the marathon campaign.

That was something Newcastle had not done before and it paid off: Murphy scored some really important goals, despite being far from a regular starter.

"Look at Grant Hanley: a key man for Blackburn, he was an occasional starter for United. But the approach worked."

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And what about performances on the pitch?

"It took a while to adapt. They lost their first two games and got a "wake up" call - their words.

"Having been such short-priced favourites to win the league, it was an eye-opening start. They soon realised they were the biggest scalps in the division and would have to adapt to that.

"Being unified and getting the whole club rowing in the same direction - which Benitez did by communicating brilliantly in that first summer - meant that fans did not turn on the players or manager. That trust was key - and followed Newcastle to the end of the season.

"Tyneside fretted at certain points but I don't think it was ever in doubt - even with Huddersfield's impressive chase from third. The title was the icing on the cake."

Norwich City

The Canaries were tipped to bounce back at the first time of asking and looked well on track after a bright start in which they lost just once in their first nine games - also beating Everton at Goodison in the EFL Cup.

Alex Neil - who kept his job despite relegation - was named Manager of the Month in September, but it was at the end of that month when Norwich suffered their first major blow, and it would prove to have damaging consequences.

Paddy Davitt of the Eastern Daily Press

When did it go wrong for Alex Neil?

"They beat Blackburn on the first day of the season and were going along nicely, going top of the table briefly and Neil was named Manager of the Month," he says.

"But then there was that Newcastle game when they were 3-2 up going into stoppage time and lost 4-3.

"Psychologically that seemed to send them over a cliff. The confidence just drained out of them and for a while they just couldn't buy a win.

"They righted the ship somewhat (losing just one in nine at the turn of the year) but then it was decided that it wasn't working with Neil and he left in March."

What do you put the loss of form down to?

"Neil has since said that he was too loyal to the core of players from the previous year and that he should have shaken it up a bit more.

"They kept the majority of the squad together, only really losing Nathan Redmond to Swansea.

"Neil again put faith in the core of the squad that had played in the Premier League and some of those who had helped win promotion two years earlier, so players like Jonny Howson, Wes Hoolahan, John Ruddy and others.

"In the end, though, that backfired. Maybe they just needed to freshen it up.

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"Hoolahan, for example, is 34 now. And although they might not be over the hill, perhaps they couldn't quite cut it in the Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday grind of the Championship.

"Norwich did do a little bit of business last summer. They signed Alex Pritchard after he turned around on the motorway and headed for Norwich instead of Brighton and they went out and bought Nelson Oliveira as well, who has scored 15 goals.

"But I think Neil looks back now and thinks he allowed it to grow stale and, like I say, wishes he'd freshened things up that bit more."

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Was it the right decision for the boss to go then?

Neil was dismissed in March after just over two years in charge and with the Canaries in eighth position (where they'd eventually finish), nine points shy of the play-off places.

He was axed just hours after he'd held a pre-match press conference in which he accepted his side had failed to live up to expectations this season.

"When you look back at Neil's time at the club, he came in in January two seasons ago and obviously led Norwich to promotion through the play-offs.

"It was almost like that first six months - which was outstanding - was down to the sheer force of his personality rather than any major tactical changes or having to show that he was a particularly astute coach.